There are many good people in this world who are doing great things for others. Please let me tell you a bit about them . . .
               

Did you know?

• Nearly million people in the United States alone are afflicted with Migraine Disease.
• A "Migraine" is NOT a headache. It is actually an attack of a neurological disease. The head pain is just one of many symptoms.

• Headaches and migraine cost employers $13 billion annually.

• Over 18 million doctor's office visits are attributed to headache and migraine yearly.

• Last year, over $4 billion was spent on over-the-counter headache medications.

• 58% of headache and migraine sufferers require some bed rest to overcome the headache, resulting in 112 million bedridden days per year.

• There are many organizations working diligently to provide education, support, and research to assist those with headache and Migraine disorders:

  • M.A.G.N.U.M.: The National Migraine Association

  • ACHE: The American Council for Headache Education

  • NHF: The National Headache Foundation

  • WHA: The World Headache Alliance

   

• 15.7 million people (5.9% of the population) have diabetes
• 798,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes each year
• Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 1995. It is believed that diabetes is underreported on death certificates.
• Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates about two to four times as high as that of adults without diabetes.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20 to 74 years old.
• The costs of diabetes: 
  Direct medical costs - $44.1 billion annually
  Indirect costs - $54.1 billion annually (disability, work loss, premature mortality)
• There are many web sites about diabetes.  A few of them are:
       º  The American Diabetes Association
       º  Rick Mendoza's Diabetes Directory
       º  International Diabetes Web site

Every Day, young children appear in court. They may be the innocent victim of a crime, the object of a custody suit, or in trouble. Concerned over making decisions about abused and neglected children's lives without sufficient information, a Seattle judge conceived the idea of using trained community volunteers to speak for the best interests of these children in court. So successful was this Seattle program that soon judges across the country began   utilizing citizen advocates. In 1990, the U.S. Congress encouraged the expansion of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) with passage of the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Today more than 800 CASA programs are in operation, with 42,400 women and men serving as CASA volunteers.  Please visit their national web site at www.nationalcasa.org.

We all pray that our children will never fall victim to cancer, but there are no guarantees. Some of my family and I had occasion to spend some time at St.  Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The children there are absolutely amazing. Some will make it, others will not; but they are all determined to give it their best. The staff is equally amazing. Never have I seen such dedicated, compassionate people. NO child is ever turned away from St. Jude's for lack of insurance or money. There is NO COST to the family for the child's care. If they have insurance, St. Jude's accepts the insurance payment as payment in full. If there is no insurance, there is no charge for the child's treatment. They also cover travel, lodging, and food expenses for the child and a parent. You can find out more about this phenomenal facility at their website, www.stjude.org.

In a medical emergency, you may not be able to speak for yourself. If you have a medical condition that is not obvious, this could place you in serious danger. The Medic Alert Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides critical information to medical personnel when you are unable to do so yourself. Trained staff are available 24 hours a day do provide data via their toll-free telephone number. Don't take chances with your life.  Check out their web site at www.medicalert.org.   

UNOS is the United Newtork for Organ Sharing, the organization that works to match organ donors with those who need organs. They maintain the critical data that prioritizes, by need, the National Organ Transplant Waiting List.  Here are some very important facts:

• Each second of every day, 16 people are added to that waiting list, which currently lists 65,963 people.
• There were 21,197 transplants in 1998.
• These transplants came from 9,913 donors -- 4,122 living donors, and 5,791 donors whose organs were donated upon their death.
• In 1998, 4,855 people died awaiting organ transplant.

If you are not an organ donor, please consider becoming one.  For more information, visit the UNOS web site, www.unos.org.